Nissan is taking the pressure off proper tire pressure
NIssan tire-pressure-measuring system
It’s a rather sad fact that proper tire pressure is something that most drivers are not aware of. Of course everybody knows that the tires have to be inflated to a certain degree in order for them to do their job, but most car owners aren’t really aware of which tire pressure is ideal for their particular vehicle, despite the many advantages of properly configured tire pressure.
There is danger from both over-inflated as well as under-inflated tires, under-inflated ones have been shown to triple the risk of an accident as well as affecting braking, accelerating, cornering and even more importantly, fuel economy. Over-inflated ones are not that far off either, being more prone to bursting and cracking due to lack of flexibility, and putting more stress on the shock absorbers.
Despite the importance of having properly inflated tires, most people don’t carry a tire-pressure gauge in their car, partly due to the fact that most modern vehicles come with some sort of tire-pressure-monitoring system. The problem with these things is that they will only let you known when the tire is low on pressure, but they won’t say how low, nor will they let you know if the tire is overfilled.
Nissan is stepping in to ‘take the pressure off’, and plan on installing tire-pressure-measuring systems on their Quest and Altima vehicles which will let the drivers know when their tires have reached an acceptable level of air pressure.
The system has an interesting way of working, it uses the vehicle’s four-way flashers to let the driver know that air is coming in, and once the tire reaches a good amount of pressure, the horn will beep once. In the case that you’re putting in too much air, then the lights start blinking aster and the horn will beep three times; once you deflate it to the ideal level, the horn will beep just once.
Quite the simple and elegant system indeed.
